3/5⭐

Like the book this one was not feeling better. The narrator didn't make it better then reading the book.

Still 3 stars for the idea of the story.

It is really confusing taking this book as romantasy or even as adult romance book. The romance is almost non existing and there is no HEA. The ending feels more like tragedy.

Thank you to the author, the publisher and NetGalley for providing me with an advanced audio copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I was so intrigued by this book when I first heard about it, but I have to say I was a little disappointed. The beginning dragged, with the trials not appearing until about 70% in, and they were very gruesome when they did (which I personally had no problem with). I also want to point out that this is not a romance, as no one ends up together (on Amazon it’s listed as a romance/Romantasy and it’s not that). The premise and worldbuilding were fascinating, but I wish the pacing had been tighter and the stakes hit earlier.

I enjoy finding a good fantasy/ quest type of book. Though this is not an epic fantasy, it does focus on Alma honing her skills to face off against eldritch forces in a pilgrimage to defeat invading gods.

The book starts out with Alma coming to the understanding she is the bastard child of an unknown man. When her mom falls ill, she reached out to the House of Avera for help only to discover her father is the head of the Avera house and he wants her to join him in his quest for power. In exchange for her sacrifice to the Avera family, he promises to send help to her mother.

Once "in" the Avera House, she is relegated to the fringes as the other members of the family do not consider her to be important enough to include. On top of that, her imaginary friend from when she was a child, comes back and seems to be far more corporeal than before. He says he is the embodiment of her house's god and he has chosen her as his favored. She is the only one who can see and hear him but there are moments when others can see the actions he does on her request. With his help, she wants to bring down her father's house and steal the power he craves.

I think there were moments it was a bit slow, but overall, I did enjoy the story though I am not certain I would really consider this any type of romance. There's a bit of crushing at best but I wouldn't put this in that category.

Do you ever just click with a book? Where the world feels lived in, the characters make sense, and you just sink right into the story? That was Houses of the Beasts for me. This is a dark, tragic, and beautifully built fantasy that feels almost cinematic — like watching a moody anime film unfold, with sweeping landscapes, eldritch gods, and a star-crossed love story threaded through the violence and politics.

Alma’s journey from an 11-year-old girl in poverty to a young woman navigating revenge, power, and impossible choices hooked me from the start. The way Michelle Wong blends a whimsical, otherworldly setting with the emotional wreckage of betrayal and love made for an immersive read. And I have to shout out the stunning illustrations (done by the author!) woven throughout — they breathe so much life into Alma, Aster, and the world around them.

If I have one critique, it’s that I kept wanting it to go darker, grittier — the bones for a truly devastating, brutal fantasy are here, and I would have loved to see it lean harder into that potential. Even so, I enjoyed every minute, and that ending? Absolutely had me sitting there in stunned silence.

I listened to the audiobook, and Jeanne Syquia narration was perfection. She nailed the emotional beats and gave each moment a cinematic quality that elevated the entire experience. Huge thanks to HarperAudio Adult/Harper Voyager and NetGalley for the access to this ALC in exchange for my honest review!— this was a haunting, beautifully imagined debut I’ll be thinking about for a while.

If a book has games and trials, I will definitely be reading it in. This was a very creative way of games and trials. Our main character is absolutely amazing. I loved all the hardships that she went through and her bravery even as a child in the sacrifice that she did even as a child that she shouldn’t have to do Our male main character I adored him in every single way, and the way that he was absolutely obsessed with our female main character. It made me like him even more.
The world, the descriptiveness was absolutely phenomenal. I could definitely make out everything in this book, just by listening to it. The writer did such amazing job of describing everything so well.
The plot was amazing. The trials were super engaging. I was absolutely stressed with our main character and everything about this book was .
The voice actor did absolutely amazing. I just can’t believe I was so lucky to get this book and to be able to listen to it.

4.5/5⭐️ | 🫑

Firstly, thank you to @thenerdfam , @harpergoyager , @netgalley and the author, Michelle Wong, for the e-Arc and ALC in exchange for an honest review!

I am honestly so completely enamored with this book. It had me from beginning to end. I really connected with Alma and felt her loneliness, pain, and yearn for belonging. This book was the perfect blend of gothic/dark fantasy, magical deals and abilities, trials and tribulations, and overall emotional torment/damage 🥲

This read had many unexpected and unpredictable events and I most definitely was not expecting that plot twist. I will say this book was NOT a romantasy like other readers have been categorizing it. I honestly felt that the constant push and pull between Alma and Aster was that of love in a non-romantic sense. Their relationship was tragically beautiful with all its complexities.

While I felt that the pacing was a bit off at times, I truly enjoyed every character and their role in the bigger picture as well as their relationships with Alma, on a larger scale & how their dynamics further impacted and contributed to Alma’s overall character growth. The mental health rep in this book was so beautifully done that the ending provided a sense of cathartic healing. I, lastly adored all the illustrations throughout the book! It was one of my favorite parts reading this novel! Michelle Wong is a strong, talented, & heartfelt artist and writer! I’m most definitely a fan!

4.5⭐️ Rounded Up

What a roller coaster ride of a book! The beginning was interesting to me - albeit a little slow - because it felt like an extended prologue. It sets the stage for the main storyline of how Alma ended up in House Avera in an attempt to save her mother. During this time she meets Aster who becomes her only friend in a lonely existence while she trains for the trials to be the first hand of the Beast.
The portion of the story involving the trials was fascinating. There was so much going on and a ton of action. The conflicts with the other contestants were tense and the culmination of everything was mind blowing. I expected something to happen but not quite what actually did.
This is the kind of story that left me feeling too much when I finished, and I know the ending will stay with me a while. It wrecked me in such a great way. I think this was a fantastic story. And I love that it is a standalone. The narration was incredible. I was not familiar with Jeanne Syquia before this, and I find myself looking forward to discovering more of their work in the future. They have a great voice, and do a wonderful job of giving the characters their own distinct qualities. They also do well bringing emotion to the story through their narration. I definitely recommend the audiobook for anyone debating on how to read House of the Beast!

Beautifully written debut! I loved the characters and the overall dark atmosphere of this book. I heard on a call that this was a horror + fantasy and was curious why it was called that. This definitely has a fair bit of gore that isn't for the faint of heart. Both of horror elements and fantasy elements were very well done and loved hope they were woven together. Only thing is, I am sad that this was a standalone. Hope the author writes more in this world!

OMG, I originally read this but I went back and listened to the audiobook. For me, the audiobook is the way to go. I enjoyed this one so much more on audio. The narrator, Jeanne Syquia does a wonderful job portraying Alma and the beast. The narrator, elevated this world for me and brought some of the other characters to life. Alma has been through so much from such a young age into adulthood, and that pain is clear. I'm still flummoxed on how I feel about the Beast. The story does pick up around the 70% mark, especially once the pilgrimage begins. I did love some of the artwork included in the pages. It added something special to the reading experience.
This one felt like a cozy fantasy with gods, beasts, slaying, and a girl who’s largely ignored sadly.

A very special thanks to Harper Voyager + HarperAudio for the gifted copy.

Wonderfully crafted darker fantasy.

When Alma’s mom is dying from illness, her long forgotten father has come to save her and bring her to the house Avera in exchange for her mother to be treated. her father’s house that has been dedicated to the Beast god. Her father forces her to become a dedicated servant after sacrificing her arm against her will. After finding out her mother has now passed from the illness her father promised to help treat, Alma is in a revenge streak to participate and win in the pilgrimage for the beast.

The narrator crafted this beautifully and the writing took you in from the beginning. I loved my whole time listening to the story.

“It hurt so much, and I wanted the pain to end. But more than that, I wanted someone else to pay for it.”

this book opens up with alma being only 11 year old, living in immense poverty, trying to help take care of her sick mother, and she only has her imaginary prince friend to keep her company. but her father is a powerful aristocrat, who had alma out of wedlock, and agrees to help her and her mother, as long as she comes and lives with him. in this part of the world, there are four houses, with four gods, that people worship and give their prayers to. and alma is whisked away by her father, and brought into this world and his house of the beast, where she is offered up to his god at a sacred temple. and that is the start of alma’s eight year journey of revenge against her father and this family, and alongside her is the imaginary prince, who maybe isn’t as imaginary as alma originally believed.

i don’t want to say anything else, and maybe even that opener is a little more than you needed, but i really enjoyed this debut with my whole heart. i loved the discussions of power, and the cost of power, and how some people are really willing to pay anything. i really respected the themes of abuse and revenge and how those two things can shape us, in so many different ways - especially with the depictions of different types of manipulation throughout this story. and i was really moved by the reminder that we will always be so much more than a vessel for someone else.

also, the author is an illustrator, and oh my gosh the illustrations throughout this are just perfection and add so much to this dark powerful tale.

trigger + content warnings: sick mother, loss of mother, grief, abuse, gore, blood, forced amputation, violence, drugging, child sacrifice, abandonment, killing of animal (bird) in past, manipulation, grooming, power imbalances, spiders, attempted forced surgery, battle, vomit, death, murder

House of the Beast by Michelle Wong is a lush, gothic-tinged fantasy that thrums with vengeance, divine bargains, and darkly romantic intrigue. Shunned by society and bound to the terrifying yet alluring Dread Beast in exchange for her mother’s medicine, Alma is thrust into the opulent yet treacherous world of House Avera, her estranged father’s noble domain. Wong’s debut drips with atmosphere, weaving cosmic horror, court politics, and deadly trials into a tale as intoxicating as it is brutal. At its heart is Alma’s razor-edged determination to destroy the family that wronged her, complicated by a dangerous bond with the god who claims her. With morally grey characters, twisted relationships, and a nightmare realm teeming with monsters, this is a vengeful, mesmerizing coming-of-age story that will leave readers spellbound.

⭐️3.5⭐️

In this dark fantasy novel, we follow Alma, a young woman forced into a bargain with a powerful god by her estranged father and his noble family to save her sick mother. After tragedy strikes despite the deal, Alma seeks revenge against her father, aided by her unique connection to the god that only she can see.

This book’s atmosphere and world building sucked me in from the start. The story is rich in dark lore and fantasy, and Wong did an incredible job at building this world.

This book has everything I love in my fantasy books: political intrigue, deadly trials, unique monsters, and rich action-packed battle scenes. I found that Wong’s writing was strongest during the action scenes. They were fluid and so well written.

What I struggled with were the characters. I didn’t particularly enjoy any of them, and the FMC was very childish to me. There was a weird time jump near the start of the book that aged her, but her character never seemed to mentally age and I kept picturing her as 11 due to how she acted throughout the rest of the book. The dialogue between all the characters just felt childish despite the content.

I honestly struggle to rate the narrator in this one, because I can’t tell if I didn’t enjoy her voicing of the characters, or if I just didn’t enjoy the characters. After further reflection, I believe Jeanne did a great job despite the dialogue.

Overall, I wanted to love this one due to so many people praising this story. While I loved the world building, plot, and action, I just couldn’t get over the characters. I can absolutely see why so many people enjoyed this one, though!

Special thanks to HarperAudio Adult/Harper Voyager and NetGalley for the access to this ALC in exchange for my honest review!

This story opens with a pretty shocking prologue of an 11 year old Alma having her arm cut off by her father so she can join his house of the Dread Beast. This DB then comes to her in the guise of a young boy to be her friend and confidant but what he really is, is evil and controlling.
The story skips ahead 8 years, so we join Alma again when she's spent that time in her awful, abusive fathers home (along with his wife who is worse) and trains for the pilgrimage. This is something that she's not supposed to compete in. Her father is destined to be the next First Hand of the God and she is just to be silent and support that. But he left her mother to die and so Alma has harboured revenge in her heart and is set to see that revenge bear fruit. There is a ton of training, trials and political machinations. All the while the Dread God, now her closest invisible friend/love Astor is manipulating Alma like a puppet.
As we get closer to the actual Pilgrimage the pace picks up quite a bit finally. I loved the battles and twists that the story brings in this section. I do think that Alma would be a bit more blood thirsty at this point...as she's getting closer to her goal of revenge against her father. That doesn't seem to come across in feelings though and so it fell flat for me.
This wants to be dark and wants to be fantasy but didn't really hit either mark for me. There is a lot to like for sure...the audiobook was beautifully narrated by Jeanne Syquia and the production quality is top tier and lush!
My rating is 3.75 rounded
I want to thank Avon and NetGalley for the ARC and HarperAudio for the ALC opportunity to read/listen and review. My thoughts are my own.

Big thanks to Netgalley and Michelle Wong for the audioARC in exchange for a review.

This has monsters, a dead mother, a scheming father, ruthless family, an evil step mother secrets and magic. What else could one hope for?

This falls under YA in a real way (not the sexist 'women can't write adult fiction so they only get YA' YA genra)
There's blood and stabbings and loss of limb, but no sex. A couple of sweet kisses though.

I enjoyed this and would 100% recommend this to anyone looking for a sweet romantasy, but wants to stay away from smutt.

Loved it. 5 stars.

I struggled with this one, because at first I couldn’t tell if I wasn’t enjoying the narration or I just wasn’t enjoying the book. In the end, I think I just didn’t enjoy the book or the narrator. The reviews set me up for a completely different experience and overall I felt like the book didn’t know what it wanted to be. I’m going to lay everything out, because I think these things just didn’t work for me, but aren’t necessarily bad things.

1. It was violent, but not in a fun way with the FMC struggled with it constantly she didn’t take any glee in being good at what she was doing. The time jump also made us miss all of her training that would have been good character building. We basically got “he taught me moves” and “he made me kill small animals to get used to it” (which 😭).

2. It teased a romance and the reviews that are showing first all mention romantasy or spicy romance. When they barely even kissed! She’d kiss his cheek and be like oh no I’m a blasphemer. Not a romance at all. So don’t expect that.

3. Overall the dialogue and interactions of the characters felt extremely childish, but this is billed as an adult book I guess for the violence? I hated Aster, he was a whiney, manipulative brat with none of the sexual tension to make up for it. Maybe it would have been better as a graphic novel? It was giving like Miyazaki dialogue/character interaction, except you know the decapitations.

4. And lastly I just thought the world building was weak. I didn’t care about the characters, the gods, the politics, none of it. I did enjoy the pilgrimage though, it did really shine there.

One thing I did love and I swear this isn’t sarcasm, is that this was a standalone. Give 👏 us 👏 more 👏 fully 👏 finished 👏 stories👏.

Thank you to NetGalley & Harper Audio for the audio arc of this novel in exchange for my review.

I listened to an advanced listeners copy of the audiobook gifted to me by NetGalley and Harper Voyager.

This book was unexpected for me in so many ways. I went into this entirely blind, I knew nothing of what I would get when I started this book.

I felt like the FMC gave me Rin vibes from The Poppy Wars. I liked being on her path of rage and revenge with her and I enjoyed getting to see what truly motivated her. Alma’s character was strong and curious, as well as blunt, but she also had a soft side to her that I liked tho get to see.

I think the creation of Aster was cool, and Alma definitely needed him through out the book. The story behind his character is emotional and earned my sympathy. The ending was entirely unexpected and made me feel so many things as well as surprise when I couldn’t hold back the tears.

I wouldn’t call this a romance due to the ending but it definitely does have romance in it and it is definitely true to its gothic/horror subgenre. I believe this is a standalone because I don’t see how it could be continued since the end wrapped up everything pretty well.

I definitely enjoyed this story!

I thought this book was very interesting and fast paced!
The world building was intriguing along with a unique magic system. After the way the book ended, I wish there would be a sequel. The Narrator was good and easy to listen to as well..

Wow, I really loved this story.
Finally, a story where the growth of the FML doesn’t stem from an annoying nuisance who is always in denial. This book shows Alma’s growth from childhood to adulthood and even as a child she was so much more relatable. I truly enjoyed her growth and following her haunting “adventure.”
This book definitely has dark aspects, but again they were so relatable that I was constantly absorbed into the drama. Moreover, the details and descriptions were so vivid. I’ve seen complaints that the story was perhaps too long, but I didn’t feel that way at all. The descriptions felt as if they placed me in the middle of the story. I cannot recommend this book enough. It had a bit of everything and the world building was perfectly synchronized in such a way that I never felt overwhelmed.
Even the romance was truly unique. I do not want to focus on this too much because I feel like it will take away from the experience, but just know that I’m pretty sure I was swooning.
Lastly, I did listen to this as an audiobook and I just wanted to take a moment to praise the narrator. Her performance was literally perfect and lived up to the high standards of the story.

Thank you NetGalley for the amazing opportunity to listen to this ARC. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

3.75 - 4 stars

On the narrator - I enjoyed the voice of the narrator and definitely think they kept my interest on the story when one or two moment had my thoughts straying.

A story about revenge and rage is always a book for me.
I have been hungerly waiting for this book since I saw it randomly on my timeline last year and was beyond happy to received an arc of the audiobook as I waited for my book.

The things I loved:
The realm of the terrors was terrifying and the descriptions of the monsters and wounds showed some real horror vibes.
The magically world and the idea that families are attached to certain god like monsters (made me think of Pandora Hearts in a way)
The relationship and push/pull of their feelings for each other.

What I didn't like:
I really expected more from the build-up of the world and exploration of magic and the houses in power, so the fact that we didn't get much intel about it all made me sad. I wanted to explore and see just how it works more in this world. As there was a few houses I understand why e focused on 1 and had slight view of another but it was not enough for me.
The relationship between the two and her female rage didn't reach the level I felt fit the story.

In the end this book has great potential and I would love more from this world. ALSO THE BOOK ITSELF IS STUNNING!